YouTube Sending Copyright Violators to School

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Wall Street Journal:

YouTube is sending people who run afoul of its copyright rules to “Copyright School.”

If Google gets a copyright notification about a YouTube user, starting today the person will have to watch a tutorial video and take a four-question multiple-choice quiz about it. YouTube also redesigned its copyright help center to teach YouTube users and copyright owners about the laws.

Google for years has been involved in litigation about copyright violations on its YouTube video-sharing site. Courts have found that Google is protected by laws that give leeway to sites that host user-uploaded material, but piracy remains a hot-button issue for the company.

YouTube has long posted warnings about copyright rules on its site, but a company spokesman said it felt more was needed.

“Because copyright law can be complicated, education is critical to ensure that our users understand the rules and continue to play by them,” Justin Green wrote in an official blog post. The policy change was earlier reported by Politico.

The video stars the Happy Tree Friends, a seemingly insane animated troupe of animals whose Flash videos have a cult following online. In the video, Russell, a turquoise sea otter dressed as a pirate, keeps trying to make videos involving a song by a blue moose named Lumpy. (Your Digits blogger is unclear about why Russell wants to record this song, which is incredibly annoying. The thing sounds like the Chipmunks went psychotic and decided to sing the same seven notes over and over. But just bear with us, here.)

Along the way, there are important lessons: for example, that you can be sued for copyright infringement, and that recordings of live shows and performances of cover songs are still protected by copyright.

A short quiz follows the video, with questions about what can be copyrighted and what happens if you have multiple copyright violations. In a sample question, the user is asked whether the following is true or false: “If my account is terminated for multiple copyright violations, I can send a counter notification to reinstate the account even if I have no permissions from the copyright holder to use the content.” (That’s false, by the way.) The user will have to answer three of the four questions correctly to pass.

YouTube’s policy is to suspend users who have received three uncontested copyright notifications. The site changed its rules slightly today to remove strikes from users’ accounts if they’ve demonstrated a record of good behavior over time and have attended the copyright school.
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Don't these new rules apply to pretty much everyone who uses YouTube these days?